scholarly journals Volcano‐tectonic setting of the Pisciarelli Fumarole Field, Campi Flegrei caldera, southern Italy: insights into fluid circulation patterns and hazard scenarios

Tectonics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberto Isaia ◽  
Maria Giulia Di Giuseppe ◽  
Jacopo Natale ◽  
Francesco D'Assisi Tramparulo ◽  
Antonio Troiano ◽  
...  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberto Isaia ◽  
Maria Giulia Di Giuseppe ◽  
Jacopo Natale ◽  
Francesco D'Assisi Tramparulo ◽  
Antonio Troiano ◽  
...  

<p>The Solfatara-Pisciarelli area, located in the active Campi Flegrei caldera (Italy) hosts an intense hydrothermal activity, whose shallower expression is controlled by a complex pattern of fractures and faults. Volcanological and structural studies may be the key to disclose the relationships between brittle structures and hydrothermal activity, as well as to understand the dynamic processes and possible eruption scenarios. For this purpose, we present the results of a volcanological and structural survey combined with Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) and Self Potential data. Three ERT surveys has been performed in order to reconstruct the Pisciarelli structural setting and the relationships of the main fractures and faults with the underground fluid circulation. Two measured profiles crossing the main mud pool and fumaroles of Pisciarelli and has been repeated every three months to evaluate the possible influence of seasonal effects on the hydrothermal system. These profiles performed during the last year have been compared with a first ERT prospection carried on in correspondence of a 100 m long survey line, which crosses along the W-E direction the Pisciarelli permanent mud pool and its main fumarole. The comparison of the results with temperature, geochemical data and rainfall rates allowed to separate the areas dominated by seasonal effects from areas where deeper injected gasses cumulate in the subsoil. Further indication on the fluid circulation and structures derived by a mapping of the self-potential anomaly realized for the whole Solfatara-Pisciarelli area. The rocks exposed in the Pisciarelli area host a large number of faults and fractures, the latter often related to fault damage zones. Cross-cutting fault and fracture relationships and their relations with the volcanic sequences suggest that NW-SE and NE-SW trending faults are sealed by Solfatara deposits (4.28 ka); whereas E-W and N-S trending faults cross-cut the youngest volcanic succession (Astroni deposits, 4.25 ka). Several landslide deposits were recognized in the higher part of the Pisciarelli fumarole field, mainly due to intense rock fracturing, hydrothermal alteration, mud-pool activity and steep relieves surrounding the mud pool. Ancient landslide deposits overlying mud sediments, similar to those nowadays forming within the active mud pool, cropping out along the slope, at about 5 meters above the present mud pool level. New landslide phenomena could seal off the mud pool and fumaroles of Pisciarelli, with a possible consequence to trigger an hydrothermal explosions as described for other hydrothermal systems in the world.</p>


2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 635-640 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giuseppe Vilardo ◽  
Guido Ventura ◽  
Eliana Bellucci Sessa ◽  
Carlo Terranova

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Waheed Gbenga Akande ◽  
Quan Gan ◽  
David G. Cornwell ◽  
Luca De Siena

<p>Modelling volcanic processes at active volcanoes often requires a multidisciplinary approach, which adequately describes the complex and ever-dynamic nature of volcanic unrests. Campi Flegrei caldera (southern Italy) is an ideal laboratory where numerical modelling of injection-induced seismicity could be tested to match the observed seismicity. In the current study, thermal-hydraulic-mechanical (THM) effects of hot-water (fluid) injections were investigated to ascertain whether the observed seismicity (past and ongoing seismic swarms) could be quantitatively reproduced and modelled in isothermal or non-isothermal approximations. Fluid-flow modelling was carried out using a coupled TOUGHREACT-FLAC<sup>3D</sup> approach to simulate THM effects of fluid injections in a capped reservoir, where the sealing formation serves as a geological interface between supercritical reservoir and fractured shallow layers of the caldera. Results from previous seismic, deformation, tomographic and rock physics studies were used to constrain the model for realistic volcano modelling. The results indicated that fluid injections generated overpressure beneath the caprock and subjected it to different stress regimes at its top and bottom, and this prompted deformation. Thus, caprock deformation, triggered by injection-induced basal compressional forces and top extensional fractures, is a critical factor determining the required timing for pressure build-up and fault reactivation, and magnitudes of seismicity. Higher fluid injection rates and temperature contrasts, heterogeneity due to fault and its contrast with the host rock, and caprock hydraulic properties were among the identified secondary factors modulating fault reactivation and seismicity. Simulation results revealed that seismicity can be better modelled in isothermal (HM) approximations. A comparative study of the THM-modelled seismicity and 4-month-long (August 5<sup>th</sup> to December 5<sup>th</sup>, 2019) seismic monitoring data recorded at the Osservatorio Vesuviano showed that our model reproduced the magnitudes and depths (~2.5 Ms within 2 km) at the onset of the ongoing unrests on October 5<sup>th</sup>, 2019. However, the model could not adequately reproduce the highest magnitude (3.3 Ms at 2.57 km) seismicity on April 26<sup>th</sup>, 2020 observed since 1984 major unrests.</p><p> </p>


2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher R.J. Kilburn ◽  
Giuseppe De Natale ◽  
Stefano Carlino

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